ONLINE
REVIEWS
* = NEW
* Rolled
Gold
* MORAY
EELS EAT THE HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS
* STEVE
PERIGRINE TOOK
OAR
-SKIP SPENCE
RUNNING
JUMPING STANDING STILL Spider John Koerner & Willie Murphy
BIKA
REED -THE FIELD OF TRANSFORMATIONS
Between
The Buttons
"Tongue"
by Penlop Houston
"Homage To Catatonia" by Big Boy Pete
"Bradley's Bran" by Beau Brummells
"Pack
Up Your Sorrows" (new compilation) by Mimi & Richard Farina
"How
I Wrote Certain of my Books" by Raymond Roussel
"Been
Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me" by Richard Farina
"Al-Kemi"
by Vandenbroeck
"Opel"
cd by Syd Barrett
"Esoterism
& Symbol" by Schwaller de Lubicz
"The
War is Over" (best-of) C.D. by Phil Ochs
"The
Definitive Tyrannosaurus Rex" C.D. by Tyrannosaurus Rex
"FALLEN
ANGELS 1st (ROULETTE MASTERS 1)" cd
"ROXY MUSIC"
An article on Television by GE,
CRAWDADDY Magazine, early 1977.
GE'S ONLINE REVIEWS (TEXT VERSION)!
ROLLED GOLD -The ACTION
THE BEST CD we've discovered in a while
Reviewer: A music fan from Permissive paradise
If you like late 60s British rock-psych, tough-not-fey
production/vibe, white-soulful vox, and mixing electric/acoustic
elements (think: a cross among BEATLES + ZOMBIES + TRAFFIC
+ SMALL FACES, even a lil' BYRDS feel occasionally), you
shimply MUSHT try ROLLED GOLD, which compares to the cream
of these groups' output!!
-"the Ac-WHO-"!? you might well say...
'Where have they been all our life?'; 'A gem beyond price
has languished all these years unsavored,' we repeat nearly
speechless. Not since our belated introductions to Moondog...Skip
Bifferty...Billy Nicholls...Stones' "Metamorphosis"...Dantalian's
Vehicule...
It can easily be yours.
We very rarely care to replay any c.d. over and over
but this one warrants such: well-crafted blend of nonchalance
poetry and passion, delicacy and yarbles, hooks and chops
and pacing and SONGS up there with the legends. The news
that this cohesive album was only DEMO'S* ('haps fortuitous
in retrovision) catapults one's estimation higher still.
Singer Reg King: on ROLLED'S strength his visage deserves
a spot on some Rushmore-in-Avalon alongside fellow soulful
Brits Winwood/ Marriott/ Reid/ Lloyd/ Stewart...: just
hoarse enough/just sweet enough (+ a 'secret': optimal
use throughout of unison doubeltracking) ...perfection.
ROLLED GOLD'S production is on the raw/monoish/hotly-compressed
side-- a flute/piano occasionally to augment the basic
guitar quartet formula & keep things unexpected--
suiting the songs & performances to a Tee (just to
offer another clue to their magic brew).
Homey's in no way related to any bandmember...
Do it!
* "One man's demos can be another's goldmine"
Esoterism and Symbol
by
R. A. Schwaller De Lubicz, R. A. Schwaller De Lubicz,
Goldian VandenBroeck
THIS IS THE BEST SLIM VOLUME..., July 6, 1999
Reviewer: A reader
...of Schwaller de Lubicz with which to begin an approach
to this unique, major thinker. Though I purchased his
recently-issued $200 (list) massive 2-vol. tome THE TEMPLE
OF MAN, and regret it not for a second, its sheer bulk
is daunting to those of us unblessed with nice work-desks,
or not as at home with geometric formulations as with
the written word (there's plenty of both within)... But
a valuable taste of this author's style and essential
philosophic thrust is contained in E & S, which reads
more poetically and resonantly than the slim volumes SYMBOL
& THE SYMBOLIC and THE TEMPLE IN MAN by the same author.
To clarify, the best pocket-size, affordable volumes to
begin with by this author are this one and NATURE WORD;
I also strongly recommend the larger volumes SACRED SCIENCE
& THE EGYPTIAN MIRACLE...and the book AL-KEMI by Vandenbroeck,
which is about de Lubicz... From one who's approaching
50 years of living and slightly fewer of reading, whose
tastes run the gamut of great east-west spiritual/literary/esoteric/initiatic
traditions, I confess no author seems more brilliant,
original, multi-disciplined, and worth-the-effort-to-comprehend,
than R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz...
The Roulette Masters, Vol. 1
Fallen Angels
"Yeah, Bay-bee!" This is da one!!!", August
10, 1999
Reviewer: A music fan from NYCity
Impeccable, Perfection, Pinnacle, Cream O' the Crop, The
Last Word! in American Psyche-Pop (circa 1967 Washington,
DC variety)... whose lp's became legendary bootlegs in '70's
Europe! I bought the alvin as a sophomore in boring school
in nearby Alexandria, Va., and from that year on, I've listened
to these guys with never-ending pleasure, singing along
enchanted by their groovy playing, hip-poetic lyrics, &
just-experimental/layered-enough-to-keep-things-interesting
production! Yours truly even caught the Fallen Angels live
one Saturday afternoon in '68 in an Alexandria high school
auditorium, with 2 or 3 souls only in attendance (a later
show being more popular)...but the band did a great set
& light show for us! The 2 albums are /were great, an
extra star going to this debut; but if melodic/psyche/pop
late '60's flavor is your cup of tea, order here!
Definitive Tyrannosaurus Rex
Marc Bolan & T Rex
BOLAN RULES!, July 19, 1999
Reviewer: A music fan from NYCity
& this is the collection to prove it on 1 cd! THE most
prolific; THE most profound & fun; THE genius with his
paw smack dab on the muse's Kit; THE great Jewish Messiah
of rock-pop-magic-mystic-troubadouric-gushing-cosmic-blessed-wild
impish laughter! -That's Marc Bolan & this collection
culls his output at its freshest, early psyche-pop-folk
incarnation, which, to these ears, holds up best of all...There's
just enough nice production & playful exotic instrumentation;
Bolan's mythic-sylvan Blakean poetic persona is already
mature...there's such a sense of a Horn O'Plenty overflowing
with great melodies, original visions, 'magical' energy,
& genuine fun/genius present in the songs here that
I'm moved to SHOUT! to anyone reading this to BUY THIS CD!
At the price I see listed it's a great deal for a hard-to-find
item (I got mine in NYCity several years ago & paid
several $ more than this--haven't seen it since)... New/younger
listeners could get lost in the T. Rex section (get TANX
/ ELECTRIC WARRIOR / SLIDER) especially among the slew of
'bootleg/demo/barrel scrapings' that have come out, which
do contain some gems due to the inherent Bolan greatness!,
but... this product DEFINITIVE TYRANNOSAURUS REX is a true
31 song masterpiece!!! RIP, MB! Your Legacy Shines On!
The War Is Over: The Best of Phil Ochs
Phil Ochs
The Best & best-priced collection of Phil Ochs available...,
July 18, 1999
Reviewer: A music fan from NYC
I find the only early folky-protest Ochs song of value to
be CHANGES, which is not on this cd; but what is on it represents
his true lasting genius in writing, singing, and psychosocial
commentary... Ochs worked with gifted producers and musicians
(Larry Marks, Van Dyke Parks, Ry Cooder, Clarence White,
Lincoln Mayorga) on these records: PLEASURES OF THE HARBOR,
PHIL OCHS' GREATEST HITS, REHEARSALS FOR RETIREMENT, which
are the sources for this best-of, and the lush strings &
flawless pop/folk/chamber arrangements really hold up! For
my taste/ears, the opener 'Tape from California' is one
song truly warranting desert island companionship: the damn
thing has so many twists & turns & rich poetic wordplay,
plus harmony-singalong possibilities that I've literally
played it hundreds of times and never gotten tired of it.
Phil Ochs' lyrics I personally dig the more they became
playful/'trippy-surreal'/entheogen-influenced? than their
mid-60's protest-commie mode...and thankfully the former
are what's served up here, a lovingly-crafted worthy salute
to a great & tragic artist. Phil Ochs' voice was a pretty
amazing instrument, maybe not everyone's c of t with its
oft-employed distinctive vibrato, but I think the guy really
had IT and this material shows.
Opel
Syd Barrett
DON'T BELIEVE THE DISBELIEVERS!!! Syd B...., June 16, 1999
Reviewer: heliocd@aol.com from NYCity
...had more genius & greatness (o.k., maybe more acid
as well) in his pinky than all your MTV award winners put
together! Only a brilliant natural (a la Barrett) could
prop himself up in front of a mike with an uneffected e.
guitar & create a visionary gem of such transcendent
breadth & depth as the cut "Opel", for instance....&
the following cut "Octopus" I'm comfortable to
declare to be the single greatest-strangest-best-lyrics-&-perfect-backing
psych/rock/pop song ever! It holds up!
Yes, Barrett had/has his problems with the drugs, the fame,
the mad pressure, but I say he's at a similar approaching-superhuman
level to a Jack Kerouac, a Nick Drake, a Bob Marley, a Miles
Davis, an Edie Sedgwick: you gotta forgive such figures
their foibles, focus on their achievements, hear THROUGH
their shamanic slurs & hallucinatory goneness to the
artist's communicating heart. -This from a listener who
cannot bear any Pink Floyd unless it's the Syd cuts; i.e.
their greatest album = THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN! &
the Syd singles: Heaven! You wouldn't want OPEL to be the
only Barrett album in your collection, but it is an important
gem (a veritable Opal!) containing cuts of both breathtaking
beauty ("Golden Hair") & savage strangeness
("Rats")...
Al-Kemi: A Memoir: Hermetic, Occult, Political, and Private
Aspects of R.A. Schwaller De Lubicz
by
Andre Vandenbroeck
-make that 10, 15 Stars!, May 9, 1999
Reviewer: A reader from NYCity
Two of the century's most amazing minds met & interacted
in an initiatic/alchemic/esoteric give & take for
18 months some 40 years ago in France...these men were
De Lubicz, the cautious, controversial, mind-bogglingly
brilliant Egypt-inspired theorist/Adept, and Vandenbroeck,
the 'burning', younger, bounteously-gifted apprentice.
Their time spent together has been revivified masterfully,
the conversations recreated compellingly, and the overall
effect achieved in this portrait/memoir/esoteric 'thriller'
is revelatory...I'll be re-reading these authors &
passing copies to friends the rest of my life! (PS: WHO
was Fulcanelli?)
Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (Twentieth-Century
Classics)
by
Richard Farina, Thomas Pynchon (Introduction), Richard
Fariina
Don't Get Me Started!..., May 9, 1999
Reviewer: A reader from NYCity
Beyond-a-Bible, a pure Cinematic shoutdance of joy &
freshness that I've read 10 times if I've read it once...Don't
look for objectivity from me, my beloved dead older brother
turned me onto this great mouthful of a title when I was
around 16 and I came to know Farina as the glorious flowering
past Hemingway & Kerouac of American hip letters! He's
written the Movie, savor the story, the truths, the buddies-w/-Pynchon,
rival-of-Dylan, inlaw-of-Baez brilliance of this great Hipster/Lover/Artist:
Richard Farina...Thanks, Champ
How I Wrote Certain of My Books and Other Writings
by
Raymond Roussel
Monsieur Roussel Rules!...He Takes The Cake..., May 15,
1999
Reviewer: A reader from NYCity
It's a tragedy of Rousselian proportions that this is
the only easily-acquired text of the Master in print...
Roussel was, after all, the subject of Michel Foucault's
very first (& to me his only readable!) book DEATH
& THE LABYRINTH (a perfect companion to this collection/introduction).
The present volume is essential to complete one's appreciation
of the 'novels' LOCUS SOLUS & IMPRESSIONS OF AFRICA,
should they drop into your lucky lap...you see, I too
find myself thoroughly intrigued/mesmerized/in awe of
the strange achievement of this genius-nut, inspirer as
well of Breton, Cocteau, Dali, Leiris, Duchamp especially,
Robbe-Grillet coitainly, Perec indubitably; but these
dudes don't hold a candle to the lucid lunacy, fertile-beyond-belief
imagination, and quaint language perfectly suited to express
the convoluted twisted-mythic enigmatic obsessions of
RR... who felt the Star on his forehead while but a teen,
which Star had begun to glow on high when he was found...
Pack Up Your Sorrow: Best Of The Vanguard Years
Mimi & Richard Farina
Under 30 & wondering whether? Go man go girl go! Immerse..,
October 6, 1999
Reviewer: bobdylan@aol.com from moscow russia
your lucky selves in the warmth wit wildness & wonder
of the great Farina(s). Richard positively rules any hip
'Who's Who?' guide to the second half of this century
(he is the dedicatee of college chum T. Pynchon's GRAVITY'S
RAINBOW! for starters)... Genus: Genius; Specialties:
legend- & character-creating, festivity-indulging,
yarn-spinning, dulcimer strumming, songwriting & harmony
singing, with his soulmate Mimi the Dancer's magically-suited
interweaving. I know these songs like the back of my hand,
their rich depth and unique harmonies have accompanied
me through decades, and they hold up swell. This comp.
is great! Remastered sound: superb; choice & order:
well-considered; liner notes: top notch (justified hyperbole)!
Angels evidently smiled on this project...
Tongue
Penelope Houston
a Rockin' Satisfyin' Work Of Art!, December 22, 1999
Reviewer: A music fan from east coast
A lot of care & talent went into this album, which only
gets stronger & reveals more surprising facets each
listen.
Penelope covers a lot of ground in the writing, the voices
delivered, themes, and settings, although quite electric
rockin' hooky pop is the 'thrust'.
The chamber music-esque cut (5), surreally 'about?' certain
youthful exploits of "the strong and the terrible young
Tiger Woods" is a pure marvel of a song that the Muse
must smile with satisfaction on... an evocative short story
in musical form.
TONGUE is sometimes naughty, sometimes nice, PH has been
there/done that, her voice is a finely nuanced instrument
that squeezes expression into each line; guys: get ready
to fall in love, girls: dig a strong woman at the proverbial
peak of her powers!
Between the Buttons
The Rolling Stones
SORRY, DOUBTERS! "WRONG!!!", AS THE MAN SAYS...,
July 15, 1999
Reviewer: A music fan from NYCity
THIS IS THE BEST STONES ALBUM OF ALL! especially if you're
like me (God forbid?)...who lives/breathes late '60s Psyche/Pop
British (preferably) sounds. It's happier & more fun
than 'Satanic'; it's hookier & 'whiter' than most Stones
material (let's hear it for fewer soul brother wannabe's
in rock!); and it ages better than their other work, with
textures owing more to chamber music than da blooze... G--damn
sure as shoot I know what I'm talking about & I'm telling
youse this album won Brian Jones a place in heaven, and
it can put you in pop heaven time after time you listen.
I have spoken.
The Field of Transformations: A Quest for the Immortal
Essence of Human Awareness
by
Bika Reed
Dear Readers, this is a great text!, July 18, 2000
Reviewer: heliocd (see more about me) from new york, new
york USA
...of spiritual-philosophical revelatory insights that
I'm very glad to have discovered. O my this woman can
write and present fresh ideas that seem to have a basis
in ancient Egyptian thought. Let me quote her style:
The Mysterious Shrine
" In the moving stillness of its spiral of continuous
self-creation, the inconceivable "I" is the
essence of life. Awake, it is the radiant eye of the Spirit
of Premeditation. Asleep, it is the rising spirit within
creation. In the very instant of its awakening within
its self-generated body, it becomes the imperishable eye,
the generator of radiance which is its seed and of light
which is its Word. Its true revelation is a cry of new
life bursting forth within the tear of a generative completion
(death). Through this completion, radiance regenerates
new meaning in the universe. It is the mender of destroyed
order, the healer of the sick, the potter within the clay.
It is the hidden revealer in the human mind. Through revelation,
it reaches its own self in man and emerges within psychic
existence as a dweller in its insubstantial egg. It evolves
as the response of a sleeping king to the human invocation
of meaning. This human invocation of its conceiver sculpts
its own face within the natural face of man: the face
of the subtle dweller, the man-born Word.
The man-born, aware Word acts as the light within the
radiance of stars. Through affinity it generates its own
shadow in those who seek to see it. In them, it fosters
its own "kind". It dwells, unseen, in sacred
books and images, in statues and trees, waiting to enter
man through its two portals, intuition and reason, thus
opening them as a single entrance of light into the human
being. This entrance unseals the shrine immured in man,
the generative space of the mystical heart of intelligence..."
-last chapter.
Running, Jumping, Standing Still
Spider John Koerner, Willie Murphy
oh yeah! it's a winner, January 2, 2001
Reviewer: heliocd (see more about me) from new york, new
york USA
Every since high school, & that's over 30 years, I've
enjoyed this record. Producer Mohawk & the boys capture
one of the coolest recorded ambiences of the century (Dr.
John's 'GrisGris' also comes to mind; also another inspired
Mohawk production, 'the Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal
Rounders') with Koerner's beat/farmboy/outdoorsy romantic
writing & delivery plus perfect cheap electric guitar
thrashing setting the mood...not forgetting great cigar
puffin' rinkytink piano of Willie.
This album is richly redolently suggestive of beer bars
basements backwoods riverbanks romance broken hearts &
clicking heels, hounddogs rainbows holidays & silk
hose! About the only time I did a 'Mecca' pilgrimage to
a club was to pay homage to Spider John (appearing solo)
for the joy this album gave, that was about 15 years ago.
Another guy had come for the same reason. Spider offered
to buy me a beer, but I wasn't drinking (pretty ungracious/dumb
huh?)... intent on telling him the G-R-R-R-R-R-E-A-ATness
of this alvin which I'm here submitting before a crash...
& if you dont agree, then u aint me, but we can all
see how it seems to have such an effect!
Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders
The Holy Modal Rounders
A 'desert island disc' for sure!, June 29, 2002
Reviewer: heliocd (see more about me) from NYCity, NY
United States
1st things 1st: (where I'm coming from)
Late 60s rule...In this genre, British pop-psych-folk
will satisfy best usually; but among the American contendahs
for lasting deserved Immortality, this album/cd tops a
connoisseur's list. (I actually booked studio time 4-5
years ago to burn myself a copy from 'the 67 vinyl)
Reasons?
Frazier Mohawk's organic/manic/chancey/unpredictable/trippy
yet somehow warm production (see also Spider John/Willie
Murphy's 'RunninJumpinStandinStill' and Essra Mohawk's
'Primordial Lovers'-- we're talkin' a master of ATmosphere!);
the Stampfel/Weber entheogen-giddy-scary-amphetaminefields
of mind-manifested halleluya-wana fun&games as only
the tail end of that particular decade magically fostered.
-All this topped with a maximum-length booklet with plenty
notes by era expert Unterberger and reminiscences by co-HMR
Stampfel, and convenient digital separations of the orig.
l.p. cuts which Paul Rothchild (via acidtrip-revelation)
demanded the album eschew: the songs did meet & flow
unspaced...
...ATmosphere...the vibes bubble and seethe from the grooves...
Guest appearance by Sam Shepard... Gifted nutty experimental
postBeat City antihippies creating up a studio storm thanks
to Elektra's generous pockets... a precious document:
they don't-can't seem able to make records like this anymore,
O shades of Dr John's 'GrisGris'-- The Holy Modals had
their Duji-- living proof Anslinger was dead wrong...
ps:
best title too
The Missing Link to Tyrannosaurus Rex
Steve Perigrine Took
Syd, Jim, Jimi, Roky, Brian W, Skip, Nico?, Holy Modals
& Took (RIP since 1980) share an era and an ear and
a rare craving for druggy (in general) entheogenic (especially)
boundary-transgressing, which is a good enough reason
to boycott them... except then you'd be missing such incredible
essential bodies of work in a mode of walls moving~ minds
drifting~~ essence-tapping/taping~~~ hearty atom mothered
slightly slurred perfection, magical accidents a-poppin',
unevenness a given, but the glimmers of excellence of
haunting deepfelt radiance occur, are here even where
Syd Barrett knocks over a lamp or something ('Syd's Wine',
aka 'Beautiful Deceiver', a cut worth the asking price)--Took
recorded tons but finished few, a legendary tripper and
prankster, whose legacy is secure as Bolan's other half
during the glorious Tyrannosaurus Visconti days... this
may be the way to work, out of the spotlight, out of the
mold/mind, one's very blood sings, frayed nerves bold
and captured for posterity on the basement machine~
One man's demos are another's goldmine!
'the Industry' is a dirty word once one susses how poisonous-useless
overproduced overconsidered music is...
Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West
Cormac McCarthy
George, a composer-musician-hipster, May 9, 1999,
-Squeamish? Forget it! Gnostic/adventurous? -You'll love
it!
A trusted friend fairly twisted my arm to get me to read
McCarthy, & this was the one he suggested...Wow! I
favor spiritual/mystic/hermetic/gnostic texts of late,
& novels rarely, but this one is compelling, out there!
-A hallucinatory godless gory hellish but almost clairvoyantly-real
150-year old world & landscape is created. A browse
at the McCarthy sec. of a bookstore turned up a book of
essays, one of which was titled BLOOD MERIDIAN AS A GNOSTIC
TRAGEDY... Aha! Very apt. So that's one reason I grokked/admired
the portrayal even as I (& any reader)couldn't always
believe the savage vileness of most of the characters
& action! (Have on hand a Spanish dictionary if you
don't know mucho). A movie may be made? _-Get Jodorowsky!
Peckinpah's dead.
Also recommended: Kerouac, Pynchon, Hemingway...Bataille,
Cioran, Aivanhov...
